Sound Off: What are some important questions buyers should ask themselves as they search for properties?
The early questions of preferences and location evolve: Do you like it? Can you see yourself there? But extrapolate out and the weightier ones emerge: Where are you in your life, and is this where you want it to take place?
As a former practicing attorney and mediator, I was trained to ask probing questions — to learn, to consider, to challenge. From years of doing real estate, I’ve developed a repository of answers to typical and atypical questions, and for things I don’t know, I have a deep network and research skills to draw upon.
Some clients ask if I want to see their scoring spreadsheets. I usually pass — because I’ve seen it so many times: when the right place comes along, a gut feeling takes over and the spreadsheet becomes a thing of the past. It’s the “this is the one” moment.
In San Francisco, the remaining questions come down to affordability and how far you’re willing to stretch against the competition. Now it’s time for questions of strategy and endurance.
Kevin K. Ho, Vanguard Properties, 415-297-7462, kevin@team-kho.com.
A: Before you fall in love with a home, negotiate with yourself.
In today’s Bay Area market, buyers are conditioned to obsess over mortgage rates and asking prices. But what actually determines buyer success is how well you negotiate, and that work starts long before identifying the house or the dynamics of offer day.
Home prices across the region remain high, and are trending even higher. On any given Sunday, you and a dozen other buyers will walk into the same beautifully staged home and feel the same pull. Yet only one buyer will...